View over Monhegan Harbor to Manana Island Photo: John Murdock
Monhegan Island, Maine, is a treasure. Small, isolated and quite far offshore, it concentrates landbird migrants, attracts off-course vagrants and provides some of the most pleasant birdwatching anywhere. There are very few motor vehicles, and footpaths lead out in many directions through spruce forests and small clearings to high rocky headlands and tiny coves. Late September is probably the best birdwatching time at Monhegan, when nocturnal migrants drift offshore on northwest winds and find refuge on the island, sometimes in large numbers. Vagrants from the south and west have been frequent and hawk flights spectacular by island standards.
Monhegan has a small village populated year-round by a few hardy lobstermen and their families and, in the warm months, a thriving summer colony and art scene that feasts on the celebrated Maine coast scenery. The island itself, especially in this tranquil after-season, has a particular beauty: the last bloom of weedy wildflowers among stacked lobster traps, the low ring of bell buoys on quiet afternoons and low-angled sunlight on old buildings.
We use Monhegan’s Island Inn for accommodation, but we also rent a house a few minutes walk away overlooking the town and harbor. We’ll cook our lobsters and many other dinners here, have canapés and drinks on the porch and monitor our birdfeeders. Our house will at all times be a respite for anyone who wishes a break; indeed, the shrubbery just off the north porch may be the best landbird spot on the island.
Day 1: The tour begins at 6 p.m. in Portland. Night in Portland.
Day 2: We’ll drive the 60 miles to Boothbay Harbor, the jumping-off point for the midmorning ferry to Monhegan. The ride takes about an hour and one-half and depending on weather we may see a few seabirds, Northern Gannet and Greater Shearwater being the most likely. Night on Monhegan.
Days 3-6: Our days on Monhegan will be unscripted. We’ll usually walk the dirt road through town before breakfast, perhaps stopping for coffee at the Carina, a small shop en route. We have favorite gardens and weedy patches that over the years seem to have harbored more than their share of birds, and we’ll visit them repeatedly.
After breakfast we’ll take a longer walk, perhaps past Ice House Pond through Cathedral Woods to the northeast side or perhaps to Lobster Cove or Burnthead Cliff. No walk is very long and each is lovely in its own way. If there are lots of migrants about, we may never get out of town.
Afternoons will be a repeat of the mornings but to different destinations. During our stay we’ll certainly visit many spots repeatedly but there’s more than enough to do. Nights on Monhegan.
Day 7: We’ll depart Monhegan this afternoon and return to Boothbay Harbor and Portland. Night in Portland..
Day 8: The tour concludes this morning in Portland.
Updated: 07 March 2008
Prices
- 2008 price about $2,420
- Single Occupancy Supplement $650
- 2009 price not yet available
Notes
David Sibley will join the group for part of each Monhegan day and for some meals.
This tour is limited to eight participants and one leader.
A Google map of the tour route can be found here.